july - december 2010 catalogue

Black Inc. July to December 2010

July to December 2010

Contents

July to December 2010

Ju ly

The Well at the World’s End A.J. Mackinnon 4

The Family File Mark Aarons 5

Rise of the Ruddbot Annabel Crabb 6

The Skull Adam Shand 7

A u g u s t

A Game of Our Own Geoffrey Blainey 8

Looking for Australia John Hirst 9

Bonobo Handshake Vanessa Woods 10

S ep t em b er

Quarterly Essay 39 Hugh White 11

Reading Madame Bovary Amanda Lohrey 12

Van Diemen’s Land James Boyce 13

Frugavore Arabella Forge 14

Into the Woods Anna Krien 15

O c t o b er

The Wreck of the Batavia & Prosper Simon Leys 16

The Red Highway Nicolas Rothwell 17

Love Poems Dorothy Porter 18

Contents

N o v em b er

The Shortest History of Europe John Hirst 19

Female Chauvinist Pigs Ariel Levy 20

Shots Don Walker 21

Monsoon Robert D. Kaplan 22

The Best Australian Essays 2010 Ed. Robert Drewe 23

The Best Australian Stories 2010 Ed. Cate Kennedy 24

The Best Australian Poems 2010 Ed. Robert Adamson 25

D ec em b er

Australian Encounters Shane Maloney & Chris Grosz 26

R e c e n t R e l e a s e s 27

E s s e n t i a l B a c k l i s t 31

4 July 2010

The Well at the World’s End

A .J. Mackinnon

When A.J. Mackinnon quits his job in Australia, he knows only that he longs to travel to the Well at the World’s End, a mysterious pool on a remote Scottish island whose waters, legend has it, hold the secret to eternal youth.

Determined not to fly (‘It would feel like cheating’), he sets out with a rucksack, some fireworks and a map of the world and trusts chance to take care of the rest. By land and by sea, by train, truck, horse and yacht, he makes his way across the globe

– and through a series of hilarious adventures. He survives a bus crash in Australia, marries a princess in Laos, is attacked by Komodo dragons and does time in a Chinese jail. The next lift – or the next near-miss – is always just a happy accident away.

This is the astonishing true story of a remarkable voyage, an old-fashioned quest by a modern-day adventurer.

A.J. (Sandy) Mackinnon was born in Australia in 1963. He is currently a teacher at the Timbertop campus of Geelong Gram-mar. His bestselling first book, The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow, described his jour-ney through the waterways of Europe, from Wales to the Black Sea, in a Mirror dinghy. The Times Literary Supplement hailed it as ‘a wonderful idea for a book – a series of ever bolder improvisations … undertaken in praise of the spirit of adventure’.

ISBN: 9781863954761Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 234 x 153mmPage Extent: 320ppAus RRP: $32.95Publication date: July 2010Rights held: World

5July 2010

The Family File

Mark A arons

In early 1965 at age thirteen, Mark Aarons came under the ‘adverse notice’ of ASIO, which opened volume one of his nine-volume security file. Mark was following in the footsteps of his father, Laurie Aarons, whose 85-volume file commenced in the early 1930s when he was fourteen.

For four generations the Aarons family were ‘subversive revolu-tionaries’, avowed communists who challenged the established constitutional order.

Having obtained access to his family’s ASIO files – the largest collection in the nation’s history – Mark Aarons combines their meticulous chronicles with his family’s own accounts to tell a political tale of revolution and dissent, idealism and intrigue.

‘A fascinating tale of love and passion, courage and perfidy, ambition and progressive politics.’—Michael Kirby, Past Justice of the High Court of Australia

Mark A arons is a former ABC broad-caster and investigative documentary pro-ducer whose exposé of Nazi war criminals in the mid-1980s led to major changes to Australia’s war crimes legislation. He has written for Australia’s leading magazines and newspapers on a wide range of sub-jects. From 1996 to 2007, he was a senior advisor to the New South Wales Labor gov-ernment, specialising in the environment and climate change. He has also been a long-term advocate for the East Timorese cause. The Family File is his sixth book.

ISBN: 9781863954815Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 234 x 153mmPage extent: 368pp + 16pp pic-ture sectionRRP: AU$34.95Publication date: July 2010Rights held: World

6 July 2010

Rise of the RuddbotObservations from the Gallery

Annabel Cr abb

Oh Lord. We’ve created a monster …

From Howard’s dramatic departure to Rudd’s unstoppable rise, the last few years have been momentous ones in Australian politics. In Rise of the Ruddbot, Australia’s funniest, most incisive political commentator chronicles these strange and turbulent times. Featuring Tony ‘People Skills’ Abbott, Julia Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull, Penny Wong, Godwin Grech, Barnaby Joyce and more, this is the perfect companion for an election year.

Annabel Cr abb is one of Australia’s most popular political commentators. She has been a journalist for over twelve years, including as senior writer and political columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald. She is the author of Losing It: The Inside Story of the Labor Party in Opposition (2005) and the Quarterly Essay Stop at Nothing: The Life and Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull, which won a 2009 Walkley Award. She is a regular guest on the ABC’s Insiders program and is currently the ABC’s chief online political writer.

ISBN: 9781863954839Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 234 x 153mmPage extent: 320ppRRP: AU$32.95Publication date: July 2010Rights held: World

7July 2010

The SkullInformers, Hit-Men and Australia’s Toughest Cop

Adam Shand

There has never been a more feared or respected policeman in Australia than Brian ‘Skull’ Murphy.

Bestselling author Adam Shand tells the story of the last of the super cops. Through dramatic re-creations, The Skull follows Brian Murphy on the beat as he collars big-time crims and small-time thugs, rubs shoulders with corrupt officials and flashy assassins, and uses a combination of old-school persuasion and self-styled ‘slychology’ to recruit his network of informers.

Murphy ventures into the grey areas of law enforcement and the criminal underworld of the ’70s and ’80s, where he confronts such renowned villains as Christopher Dale Flannery, the Kane brothers and Ray Chuck.

Fast-paced and gritty, The Skull is the life and times of a legendary crime-fighter.

Adam Shand is a journalist with twenty-five years’ experience in television, print and online media. Since 1997 he has been an investigative reporter. He is the author of Big Shots: The Chilling Inside Story of Carl Williams and the Gangland Wars (2007) and King of Thieves: The Adventures of Arthur Delaney and the Kangaroo Gang (2010).

ISBN: 9781863954822Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 198 x 128mmPage extent: 304pp RRP: AU$24.95Publication date: July 2010Rights held: World

8 August 2010

A Game of Our Own The Origins of Australian Football

Geoffrey Bl ainey

In A Game of Our Own, esteemed historian Geoffrey Blainey documents the birth of our great national game. Who were the characters and champions of the early days of Australian football? How was the VFL formed? Why was the umpire’s job so difficult?

Journey back to an era when the ground was not oval, when captains acted as umpires, when players wore caps and jerseys bearing forgotten colours and kicked a round ball that soon lost its shape.

‘Australians are not only very good at playing sport – we invent it as well. Fans of the game will love this book; it’s a great read about a great game and how it all began.’ —Ron Barassi

Geoffrey Blainey is the author of numerous books, including The Tyranny of Distance; A Short History of the Twen-tieth Century and the bestselling A Short History of the World. He is one of the few Australians whose biography appears in Encyclopaedia Britannica. He is a lifelong supporter of the Geelong Football Club and, at age nine, he had almost every player’s signature in his autograph book.

ISBN: 9781863954853Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 210 x 135mmPage extent: 272ppRRP: AU$27.95Publication date: August 2010Rights held: World

9August 2010

Looking for Australia

John Hirst

What are the qualities at the heart of Australian culture? How did they arise? What distinguishes us from other nations beyond a fondness for calling each other ‘mate’? And what do such national quirks reveal about our society, our past and our atti-tudes towards it?

Looking for Australia is a fascinating collection of essays by his-torian John Hirst. Together they form a multi-faceted portrait of Australia as a distinctive nation, with its own political culture, character and style, and particular ways of seeing itself.

Among other subjects, Hirst considers the effects of convict ori-gins on national character, what drove the bushrangers to their daring deeds, and why Australia has compulsory voting. He examines whether Aborigines played a part in the origins of Aus-tralian Rules football, and asks whether Curtin was indeed our greatest prime minister. He discusses how best to tell Australia’s history, and, after reflecting on our past as a British dependency, makes a stirring case for a future, fully independent republic.

John Hirst ’s books include Freedom on the Fatal Shore, The Shortest History of Europe and Sense & Nonsense in Austral-ian History. He wrote the official history of Australia for new citizens and took a prominent part in the History Summit con-vened by the prime minister in 2006. Until recently he was reader in history at La Trobe University, Melbourne.

ISBN: 9781863954860Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 234 x 153mmPage extent: 288ppRRP: AU$32.95Publication date: August 2010Rights held: World

10 August 2010

Bonobo HandshakeA Memoir of Love & Adventure in the Congo

Vanessa Woods

Vanessa Woods, an Australian scientist, thinks she has found her true love: chimpanzees. But in a reckless moment, she accepts a marriage proposal from a man she barely knows – and agrees to join him on a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. All she knows is that they’ll be studying bonobos, an extremely endangered species of ape with whom humans share 98.7% of our DNA.

As she adjusts to newlywed life in a war-torn country, Vanessa finds herself enchanted by these remarkable animals. They live in a peaceful society in which females are in charge, war is non-existent, and sex is as common and friendly as a handshake. As she studies their habits and habitat, Vanessa finds herself learn-ing about love and belonging, and about what makes us human.

Fascinating, courageous and irresistibly funny, Bonobo Handshake is an astonishing story of love and transformation in a fragile corner of Africa.

Vanessa Woods is the author of It’s Every Monkey for Themselves (2007), in which she described her experiences chasing wild capuchin monkeys through the Costa Rican jungle. She has written for the Discovery Channel, BBC Wildlife, New Scientist, Travel Africa and Growing Up Asian in Australia (2008). In 2003, she won the Australasian Science Award for journalism. She is currently a research sci-entist at Duke University in North Carolina.

ISBN: 9781863954846Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 210 x 135mmPage extent: 256ppRRP: AU$27.95Publication date: August 2010Rights held: ANZ

11

Quarterly Essay 39: China, America and Australia’s Future in Asia

Hugh White

In Quarterly Essay 39, Hugh White considers Australia’s place between Beijing and Washington. As the power balance shifts and China’s influence grows, what might this mean for the nation?

Throughout our history, we have counted first on British then on American primacy in Asia. The rise of China as an economic powerhouse has challenged US dominance in the region and raised questions for Australia that go well beyond diplomacy and defence – questions about the kind of country we are and how we see our place in the world.

Will China replace the US as regional leader? Should we con-tinue to divide Asia between our biggest ally and our biggest trading partner? How to define the national interest in the Asian Century? This visionary essay considers the shape of the world to come and the implications for Australia as it seeks to carve out a place in a new order.

Hugh White is a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy and professor of strategic studies at ANU. He has worked on Australian strategic, defence and foreign-policy issues for thirty years as an intelligence analyst, journalist, ministerial staffer, senior public servant, think-tank director and academic.

September 2010

ISBN: 9781863954884Imprint: Quarterly EssayFormat: PBDimensions: 234 x 167mmPage extent: 144ppRRP: AU$19.95Publication date: September 2010Rights held: World

12 September 2010

Reading Madame Bovary

A m anda Lohrey

From one of Australia’s leading short-fiction writers comes a thrilling collection of stories that deal with transition and trans-formation.

A woman finds her everyday world engulfed by vivid fantasies, a businessman finds a new way to deal with his rage, a couple con-template the best way to educate their children, a young woman finds herself on a boat with a bunch of delinquent schoolkids, a diary is discovered, a commune goes wrong.

In these riveting stories, characters deal with crises of body and spirit. They find themselves caught between order and chaos, and must face the need to change or be trapped. Shot through with a serene intelligence and a keen eye for character, these tales enlighten and entertain in equal measure.

Amanda Lohrey is the author of sev-eral acclaimed novels, including the award-winning Camille’s Bread, and Vertigo and The Morality of Gentlemen. She has also written two Quarterly Essays, Voting for Jesus: Christianity and Politics in Australia and Groundswell: The Rise of the Greens.

ISBN: 9781863954907Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 234 x 153mmPage extent: 304ppRRP: AU$32.95Publication date: September 2010Rights held: World

13September 2010

Van Diemen’s Land

James Boyce

Almost half of the convicts who came to Australia came to Van Diemen’s Land. There they found a land of bounty and a penal society, a kangaroo economy and a new way of life.

In this book, James Boyce shows how the convicts were changed by the natural world they encountered. Escaping authority, they soon settled away from the towns, dressing in kangaroo skin and living off the land. Behind the official attempt to create a Little England was another story of adaptation, in which the poor, the exiled and the criminal made a new home in a strange land. This is their story, the story of Van Diemen’s Land.

‘The most significant colonial history since The Fatal Shore. In re-imagining Australia’s past, it invents a new future.’—Richard Flanagan

‘A brilliant book and a must-read for anyone interested in how land shapes people.’—Tim Flannery

James Boyce’s ‘Fantasy Island’ was the central contribution to Whitewash: On Keith Windschuttle’s Fabrication of Abo-riginal History, edited by Robert Manne, and was shortlisted for the Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards in 2004. He wrote the Tasmania chapter for the book First Australians.


14 September 2010

FrugavoreHow to Grow Your Own, Buy Local, Waste Nothing & Eat Well

Ar abell a Forge

More and more people are interested in eating well and in understanding where their food comes from. But where to start? Organic, free-range, local, sustainable: the choices can be over-whelming – and expensive.

In Frugavore, Arabella Forge shows that it needn’t be so difficult. She provides a hands-on, practical guide to a new way of living, proving that frugal eating can also be flavoursome and fun. Learn how to access quality produce straight from the source, rediscover forgotten cooking techniques, stock your pantry wisely and create your own kitchen garden, complete with compost heap and chicken coop.

Packed with recipes, resources, tips and tricks, Frugavore is a refreshing guide to living and eating well. Before you know it you’ll be enjoying delicious, sustainable meals – and feeling healthier, happier and even a little richer for it.

Ar abella Forge is a Melbourne-based nutritionist. She teaches regular cooking classes at CERES Environmental Park and Organic Wholefoods, focusing on tradi-tional techniques. She has featured as a speaker at Slow Food forums and speaks frequently on radio about issues relating to food and health.

ISBN: 9781863954891Imprint: Black Inc. Format: PBDimensions: 180 x 180mmPage extent: 240ppRRP: AU$29.95Publication date: September 2010Rights held: World

15September 2010

Into the WoodsThe Battle for Tasmania’s Forests

Anna Krien

An intimate and intrepid journey into the forest wars.

For decades, the Tasmanian wilderness has been the site of bit-ter struggle. Sawmillers and police face off with protesters deep in the forest, while political games are played in the courts and parliaments. At stake is the future of old-growth forests, of the logging industry – and of the people on both sides, deeply divided by years of suspicion.

In Into the Woods, Anna Krien brings to life this protracted con-flict. Armed with a notebook, a sleeping bag and a rusty sedan, she ventures behind the fiercely drawn battlelines. She speaks to ferals and premiers, loggers and whistle-blowers, and asks chal-lenging questions about their motives and methods.

Brave and revealing, Into the Woods is a dramatic work of report-ing by a bold new voice, a journey deep into the heart of Australia’s most perplexing state.

Anna Krien ’s work has been published in the Monthly, the Age, The Best Austral-ian Essays, The Best Australian Stories, Griffith Review, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Colors, Frankie and Dazed & Confused.


16 October 2010

The Wreck of the Batavia & Prosper

Simon Leys

In 1629, the Batavia was wrecked on a coral archipelago fifty miles from the Australian continent. Most of the people on board survived, only to become victims of a visionary psychopath who, with the help of a dozen followers, organised a methodical mas-sacre of the hapless community.

Following the wreck’s discovery some forty years ago, Simon Leys travelled to the site. This is his riveting account of the shipwreck and its brutal aftermath. As well as a narrative of the disaster, it is also a subtle consideration of the nature of totalitarianism and our susceptibility to its visionary ideologues.

This book also includes Leys’ elegiac essay, Prosper, recalling a summer when he joined the crew of a tuna-fishing boat from Brittany, one of the last boats still working under sail. This remarkable piece vividly evokes the traditions, hardships and dangers of the oldest and finest form of seamanship.

Simon Leys was born in Belgium and settled in Australia in 1970. A renowned sinologist, he is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities and a member of the Académie Royale de Littérature Française. His books include With Stendhal, Other People’s Thoughts and The Death of Napoleon. He has been the recipient of many literary awards and contributes regularly to the New York Review of Books, Le Figaro Littéraire and the Monthly.

ISBN: 9781863953269Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 186 x 124mmPage extent: 136ppRRP: AU$19.95Publication date: October 2010Rights held: ANZ, trans.

17October 2010

The Red Highway

Nicol a s Rothwell

This is the story of a quest – a journey down the red highway.

On returning from a war zone, Nicolas Rothwell begins to explore the deserts and towns, sleepy coastline and hidden worlds of Australia’s north. As he travels, his journey gathers momentum and finds a shape. He has unforgettable, even mys-tical encounters: with a priest, an explorer, a collector and a hunter. It becomes a quest – for knowledge and a sense of home

– that builds to a stunning culmination.

Nicolas Rothwell is among Australia’s most gifted writers, and The Red Highway is a one-of-a-kind book. It explores death, friendship, travel and art, and evokes a unique and mesmerising part of the country.

‘Rothwell’s calm wondering at what he sees and hears on his travels left me with a feeling of enchantment.’—Robert Dessaix

Nicolas Rothwell is the award-winning author of Journeys to the Interior, Wings of the Kite-Hawk, Heaven and Earth and Another Country. He is the northern correspondent for the Australian.

ISBN: 9781863954938Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 198 x 128mmPage extent: 288ppRRP: AU$24.95Publication date: October 2010Rights held: World

18 October 2010

Love Poems

Dorothy Porter

Your face sleeps illuminated in the early morning warmth of my slack arm

Dorothy Porter writes about love, sex, heartbreak and desire like no one else. Love Poems collects her most powerful love poetry: portraits of longing and infatuation, of bliss, passion, uncertainty and devotion. It includes extracts from her award-winning and best-selling verse novels, as well as poems and lyrics spanning her whole career.

Dorothy Porter’s award-winning crime thriller in verse, The Monkey’s Mask, has become a modern Australian classic. Her other books include Wild Surmise and What a Piece of Work, both of which were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, El Dorado, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and The Bee Hut, her seventh collection of poetry, completed just before her death in December 2008.

ISBN: 9781863954921Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PaperbackDimensions: 210 x 135mmPage extent: 224ppRRP: AU$27.95Publication date: October 2010Rights held: ANZ

19November 2010

The Shortest History of Europe

John Hirst

Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilisation.

The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilisation, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of three ele-ments: classical learning, Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters – pious knights and belligerent popes, romantics spouting folklore and revolutionaries imitating Rome – and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern times. Mean-while the common people were tilling the soil, until they became the first to enjoy the prosperity of an industrialised urban society.

The Shortest History of Europe is a clear, humorous and thought-provok-ing account of a remarkable civilisation.

John Hirst ’s books include Freedom on the Fatal Shore, Looking for Australia and Sense & Nonsense in Australian History. He wrote the official history of Australia for new citizens and took a prominent part in the History Summit convened by the prime minister in 2006. Until recently he was reader in history at La Trobe University, Melbourne.

ISBN: 9781863955034Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 198 x 128mmPage extent: 160ppRRP: AU$19.95Publication date: November 2010Rights held: World

20 November 2010

Female Chauvinist PigsWomen and the Rise of Raunch Culture

Ariel Lev y

In 2005, Ariel Levy introduced us to female chauvinist pigs – a new generation of ‘empowered women’. If the male chauvinist pigs of yesteryear saw women as pieces of meat, today’s female chauvinist pigs go one better, wearing the Playboy bunny with pride and making sex objects of themselves. They think they’re being brave, they think they’re being funny – but, Levy asks, what if the joke is on them?

Levy interviews young women raised on a diet of Paris Hilton and plastic surgery, and dissects the media and marketing that have helped to promote ‘raunch culture’. She argues that the trend reveals unresolved conflicts between the women’s move-ment and the sexual revolution – and that rather than being a sign of women’s liberation, ‘raunch culture’ is doing young women real harm.

Hailed as ‘provocative and persuasive’ by the New York Times, Female Chauvinist Pigs remains the definitive account of a phe-nomenon that refuses to go away. In the afterword to this new edition, she considers how much – or how little – has changed five years on. With a new Australian preface by Emily Maguire.

Ariel Lev y is a staff writer at the New Yorker. She has been described as ‘femi-nism’s newest and most provocative voice’ by Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tip-ping Point, while Female Chauvinist Pigs was hailed as ‘brilliant and acerbic’ by Linda Jaivin in the Monthly, and ‘brave and important’ by Sophie Cunningham in the Age.

ISBN: 9781863955003Imprint: Black Inc. Format: PBDimensions: 198 x 128mmPage extent: 240ppRRP: AU$22.95Publication date: November 2010Rights held: ANZ

21November 2010

Shots

Don Walker

‘A singular, strong and beguiling book.’ The Sydney Morning Herald

‘Shots is good. It is actually better than good. Most of the time it is brilliant.’ Australian Book Review

‘The book shines with its descriptive sense of place. Shots carries the reader along for the ride … from the bush to Melbourne and Kings Cross and on to Europe.’ The Age

This extraordinary memoir begins with Don Walker’s early life in rural Australia and ends in the late ’80s. In mesmerising prose, Walker evokes childhood and youth, wild times in the ’70s, life on the road and in Kings Cross, music-making and much more. Shots is a stunningly original book, a set of word pictures – ‘shots’

– that conjure up the lowlife and backroads of Australia.

Don Walker is one of Australia’s lead-ing songwriters – first with Cold Chisel and now as a solo performer and with Tex, Don & Charlie. This is his first book.

ISBN: 9781863954990Imprint: Black Inc. Format: PBDimensions: 198 x 128mmPage extent: 208ppRRP: AU$22.95Publication date: November 2010Rights held: World

22 November 2010

MonsoonThe Indian Ocean and the Battle for Supremacy in the 21st Century

Robert D. K apl an

For much of the twentieth century, Europe dominated global attention. Two world wars were won and lost on its battlefields, and the great ideological struggles of the Cold War were played out in its cities. The Atlantic Ocean was the locus of international power.

This is no longer the case, as bestselling author Robert D. Kap-lan deftly proves in Monsoon. He shows how the rise of India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Burma and Oman, among others, represents a crucial shift in the global balance of power. It is in ‘Monsoon Asia’ that the fight for democracy, energy independ-ence and religious freedom will be lost or won. It is here that European interests are being replaced by Chinese and Indian influences, and where the often tense dialogue is taking place between Islam and the West. It is towards this region that global powers need to shift their focus if they are to remain dominant in the new century.

Robert D. K aplan is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington and national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly. He was recently the Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. His previous twelve books include Balkan Ghosts, Eastward to Tartary and Warrior Politics.

ISBN: 9781863955027Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 234 x 153mmPage extent: 384ppRRP: AU$34.95Publication date: November 2010Rights held: ANZ

23November 2010

The Best Australian Essays 2010

Edited by Robert Drewe

In The Best Australian Essays 2010, Robert Drewe collects the year’s finest works of non-fiction. These essays roam widely, capturing the preoccupations and events of the previous year. Showcasing our finest writers on a range of topics both public and personal, The Best Australian Essays is an indispensable record of the year that was.

Previous contributors include Helen Garner, J.M. Coetzee, Tim Flannery, Inga Clendinnen, Robyn Davidson, Clive James, Chloe Hooper, David Marr, David Malouf, Robert Manne, Noel Pearson, and many more.

Robert Drewe was born in Melbourne and grew up on the West Australian coast. His novels and short stories and his prize-winning memoir, The Shark Net, have been widely translated, won national and inter-national awards, and been adapted for film, television, radio and theatre. His most recent book, The Rip, a collection of short stories, was published in 2008. He is currently work-ing on a sequel to The Shark Net.


24 November 2010

The Best Australian Stories 2010

Edited by C ate Kennedy

In The Best Australian Stories 2010, Cate Kennedy selects the year’s most exciting short fiction. Featuring established masters alongside fresh new voices, this diverse collection is a perfect companion for summer and an ideal introduction to Australia’s best contemporary writing.

Previous contributors include Kate Grenville, Nam Le, David Malouf, Mandy Sayer, DBC Pierre, Frank Moorhouse, Peter Goldsworthy, Marion Halligan, Venero Armanno, Sophie Cun-ningham and many more.

Cate Kennedy is the author of the criti-cally acclaimed short-story collection Dark Roots and the novel The World Beneath, as well as poetry collections and a travel memoir. Her work has appeared in many publications and anthologies, including The Best Australian Stories, the Harvard Review and the New Yorker. She is highly regarded as a teacher of short fiction and works as a mentor, editor and judge when not at work on her own writing. She lives in north-east Victoria.


25November 2010

The Best Australian Poems 2010

Edited by Robert Adamson

In The Best Australian Poems 2010, award-winning poet Robert Adamson puts together a selection of the most outstanding poems written by Australian authors over the past year. Contributions from new and emerging writers – often published here for the first time – feature alongside the most recent work of our renowned poets, producing a rich and diverse range of voices from all across the country. The result is a vibrant and fascinating edition of this much-loved anthology.

Previous contributors include Judith Beveridge, Stephen Edgar, Sandy Fitts, Lisa Gorton, Clive James, Paul Kelly, John Kinsella, David Malouf, Peter Minter, Les Murray, Dorothy Porter, Peter Rose, Craig Sherborne, Alicia Sometimes, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, and many more.

Robert Adamson has published numerous volumes of poetry in Australia, the UK and the USA. He is the author of The Golden Bird (winner of the C.J. Dennis Prize for Poetry in 2009), The Goldfinches of Baghdad (winner of the Age Book of the Year Award for Poetry in 2006) and the memoir Inside Out (2004), and edited The Best Australian Poems 2009. In 1995 he received the Christopher Brennan Award for lifetime achievement in poetry.


26 July 2010 December 2010

Australian Encounters

Shane Maloney & Chris Grosz

What happened when Bob Hawke locked horns with Frank Sinatra, when Errol Flynn interviewed Fidel Castro, and when Norman Gunston joined Frank Zappa on stage?

Australian Encounters is a one-of-a kind book. With abundant humour, it tells of 50 true encounters – public or private, ill-fated or fortuitous – between a renowned Australian and an inter-national mover and shaker. Featuring politicians, socialites, film stars, artists, entrepreneurs and sporting legends, these portraits capture their subjects in a single, fleeting moment, when paths crossed and personalities collided.

Subjects include Margaret Fulton and Elizabeth David, Nicole Kidman and Tom Crusie, Donald Bradman and Boris Karloff, Martina Navratilova, Winston Churchill, Gandhi, Kylie Minogue, Henry Kissinger, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Menzies and many more.

These lively encounters appear regularly in the Monthly and are presented here as a collection for the first time.

Shane Maloney is one of Australia’s most popular novelists. Apart from his crime fiction, his writing has featured in the Age, Canberra Times and Eureka Street.

Chris Grosz is a book illustra-tor, painter and musician. His work has appeared in newspapers and magazines such as the Age, the Bulletin and Time, and he has designed tour posters for Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Ry Cooder and Elvis Costello.

ISBN: 9781863955058Imprint: Black Inc.Format: PBDimensions: 170 x 210mmPage extent: 128ppRRP: TBCPublication date: December 2010Rights held: World

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The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Debt Crisis of 2010–2012

Harry S. Dent

God Is Not One: The Rival Religions That Run the World & Why Their Dif-ferences Matter

Stephen Prothero

The Family Law

Benjamin Law

Black Inc. Essential Backlist

32 Essential Backlist

Collected Poems

Les Murray

Selected Poems

Les Murray

The Biplane Houses

Les Murray

Sense and Nonsense in Australian History

John Hirst

The Australians: Insiders & Outsiders on the National Character since 1770

John Hirst

Freedom on the Fatal Shore: Australia’s First Colony

John Hirst

33Essential Backlist

Unpolished Gem

Alice Pung

Growing up Asian in Australia

Edited by Alice Pung

I am Melba

Ann Blainey

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow

A.J. Mackinnon

Well May We Say: The Speeches that Made Australia

Edited by Sally Warhaft

Piano Lessons

Anna Goldsworthy


The Bee Hut

Dorothy Porter

Free to a Good Home

Catherine Deveny

Say When

Catherine Deveny

It’s Not My Fault They Print Them

Catherine Deveny

Callgirl: Confessions of a Double Life

Jeannette Angell

Vertigo

Amanda Lohrey

35Essential Backlist

Stuffed & Starved:Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System

Raj Patel

Figurehead

Patrick Allington

Up from the Mission:Selected Writings

Noel Pearson

Journeys to the Interior

Nicolas Rothwell

Wings of the Kite-Hawk

Nicolas Rothwell

Mother of Rock:The Lillion Roxon Story

Robert Milliken


Contact Details

General enquiries: Black Inc. 37-39 Langridge Street Collingwood, Victoria 3066, Australia tel +61 3 9486 0288 / fax +61 3 9486 0244 [email protected]

Rights enquiries: Sophy Williams: [email protected]

Media enquiries: Nina Kenwood: [email protected] Elisabeth Young: [email protected]

Trade orders: United Book Distributors tel 1800 338 836 / fax +61 3 9764 [email protected]

Education orders: Education, Penguin Group (Australia) tel +61 3 9811 2548 fax +61 3 9811 2568 [email protected]

www.blackincbooks.com / www.quarterlyessay.com

july - december 2010 catalogue

Documents

aarons family

family file mark aarons

nations history mark

laurie aarons

volume file

best australian poems

australia john hirst

black sea